


Behind the Masks

by Lunatique (lunafana)



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Genre: Darksaber, F/M, Finn and Rey undercover, Finn centric, Mandalorian Finn, Sharing a Bed, The Clone Wars - Freeform, in-universe historical au, old republic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 01:10:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11863518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunafana/pseuds/Lunatique
Summary: Finn and Rey, Jedi Knights of the Old Republic, go undercover during the Clone Wars in Mandalore. There Finn finds himself faced with a choice that affects not only his standing in the Order but his relationship with Rey and his very identity.





	Behind the Masks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sarsaparilla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarsaparilla/gifts).



> This was a late entry for Finnrey Exchange 2017 that got reassigned, and I was directed to post it as a treat instead. My apologies for the tardiness, and I hope Sarsaparilla will enjoy having two gifts! No pirates unfortunately because I got caught up in this idea, but hopefully Mandalorians are also good. 
> 
> This entry is also known as "I Write Clone Wars Fanfic Without Actually Having Seen Clone Wars." I might be getting details wrong as a result (I've only seen clips on YouTube and holy hell is it a gorgeous animation), I'll update if I do get to see the show or if any reader is kind enough to correct me. Enjoy!

“Here are the targets.” In a dimly lit room with a table in the center, a shadowy figure at one side of the table slid a holocron projector across the top to a man sitting on the other side.

The man, his shaved head gleaming in the low light of the conference room and his powerful build made more imposing by the mechanized armor he wore, turned the projector on and scrolled through the holo. The lit-up images and letters flickered across his face and the closed visors of two guards, also in mechanized armor, standing behind him.

“Understood.” The holocron flicked off, making the room seem darker than before. “We will not move until the situation shifts in our favor, of course.”

“The target package is acceptable, then?”

“Yes, the Duchess will find quite a situation on her hands.” The bald-headed man smirked.

“Very well. We will begin.”

The parties exchanged curt nods and left the room separately, the man followed by his armored guards through the corridors of a spaceship where other armored figures came and went. 

“You may go.” The man dismissed his guards when he reached the door to his quarters. They bowed and walked away down the corridor together.

They went together through another door down. As soon as the door swished shut behind them they removed their helmets, the slightly taller figure revealing himself to be a young man with short hair and dark skin, while the shorter figure was a pale young woman with brown hair.  
The two were silent for a while, removing their armor and weapons. The young woman pressed a button on the forearm of her armor and watched intently before a light came on in the display.

“Finn, we’re clear,” she said in a crisp Coruscant accent.

The young man moved about the room, scanning the walls with his eyes and running a hand over the bulkhead in places. 

“Agreed,” he said at last in the same accent.

The woman placed a device on the door where it latched on, blinking. “Door sealed.” 

The woma sat down on a bed in the center of the room, a troubled look on her face. “I knew Pre Vizsla was ruthless, but I never thought he was going to let his own people be terrorized so he can come to power.”

“We knew he tried to take over Mandalore before, Rey.” The young man sat down beside her. “That’s why the Order sent us here, to find out his plans from the inside.”

“I guess this is what it’s all about, then.” Rey smiled. “We’ll inform Coruscant about the plot.”

Finn put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Let’s set up the communicator.”

The two went to work assembling a small tripod-like device from parts they took from their armor. Rey took out the control panel from her armor and calibrated it.

“Signal scrambler standing by.”

“All right.” Finn adjusted a lens on top of the tripod to face himself. “This is Jedi Knight Finn Stormheart and Jedi Knight Rey Coruscanti, reporting from our covert mission with the Death Watch. Pre Viszla, leader of the Death Watch, will be allowing his criminal syndicate allies to strike civilian targets as part of his plan to depose Duchess Kryze and take over Mandalore. Their targets include the Sundari shipyard, government buildings, and a bank. We request our orders and at minimum recommend Duchess Satine Kryze be informed so she can respond to these developments.”

He looked over to Rey, who nodded, and he pressed a button on the tripod. Rey frowned in concentration as she bent over the signal scrambler, adjusting dials and pressing buttons.

“Is the signal away?” Finn went to stand behind her, leaning over to watch the display.

“Don’t distract me.” Her face dimpled. “I’m adjusting the wavelength to evade their signal jam.”

He straightened up. “They’ve changed the wavelength variation pattern again, are you adjusting manually?”

“Yes.” She slid her fingers along a dial. Silence fell. “And… it’s away.”

Finn let out a sigh of relief. “Good job, Rey.”

“Good job yourself.” She smiled at him over her shoulder.

They took the transmitter apart and reassembled their armor in silence, before they used the small washroom in their quarters one after another and collapsed into bed.

“Lights,” Rey called, and the room darkened with only the stars outside their viewport lighting it.

“Hey Rey?” Finn said after they had lain side by side for a while.

“Yes?”

“Do you ever get… dreams, strange dreams?”

“Everyone dreams. One time I dreamt I was a spaceship.” She turned over to lie on her side facing him. “Is something the matter?”

“Ever since we came here, living among these Mandalorians…” Finn looked up at the ceiling, the whites of his eyes bright in the darkness. “Things that I wasn’t there to experience. Impossible things.”

Rey raised herself on an elbow. “Finn, could these be Force visions?”

Finn went rigid where he lay, as though this were exactly what he had been afraid to hear. “I don’t know.”

“I wish we could seek advice. From your master, maybe.” Rey lay back down, her eyes still on Finn. “Maybe we could make a transmission.”  
Finn sighed. “Rey, we risk our lives every time we send a transmission and they’re viewed by the Jedi Order, the Republic intelligence agencies, and possibly the Senate Intelligence Committee and Supreme Chancellor. We are not putting my dreams in there.”

“Well then, you could tell me.” Rey poked him in the ribs. “I could help.”

Finn cracked a smile and wriggled away from her finger. “Well I didn’t dream I was a spaceship.”

“So what were you?”

“Maybe later.” Finn rolled over so his back was to Rey. “Sleep well.”

She watched his back for a while as his breathing grew slow and regular, then lay on her back and closed her eyes. Finn watched the stars that shone outside, his eyes troubled.

* * *

“Vizsla!” The Duchess of Mandalore pointed a finger at the figure that hovered in the air. “You must be the one responsible for thees attacks.”

“No, I’m not responsible. But I can offer a solution” 

Rey and Finn’s eyes met, hovering on their jetpacks at the edge of the palace square where the Duchess and Pre Viszla confronted each other. Finn wondered whether the same questions ran through Rey’s head: Wasn’t the Duchess aware of the plot? Why was the Republic letting this happen?

Vizsla spoke to the gathered Mandalorians, telling them he was the only one who could bring stability, that he would protect them. Finn’s mind whirled as he listened. Watching the planned attacks on civilian targets go through in the days since sending the intelligence to Coruscant, he had told himself—and he and Rey had told each other—it was too soon. Maybe the Republic needed time to act. Maybe they had already told Duchess Kryze and she was biding her time.

Now, watching the crowd cheer for Vizsla, Finn no longer knew what to think. If the Republic had told the Duchess and this was part of some plan, she needed to act soon. 

He found himself measuring the distance and angles between himself and Viszla for an attack. What worth was his cover anyway if civilians were being killed and Mandalore fell to chaos? With an effort he kept his hand from his blaster.

Vizsla flew away from the square, and orders came over the comm to start putting down the attacks. This, at least, he could do. Finn activated his jetpack and flew through the air along with the other warriors of the Death Watch, looking for something to fight.

* * *

He found his first battle in a street off the main square where a building caught fire from a mercenary’s flamethrower. Citizens screamed and fled. Finn, after checking the area was clear, flipped midair and gunned his pack in a straight line toward the merc, blaster out and firing. He rolled in the air around the return fire, the growing smoke darkening the view through his visor, and tackled his adversary with momentum behind him. They plowed into the ground together, grinding along the gritty length of the pavement before they stopped.

“Surrender!” Finn thrust his blaster into the mercenary’s surprised face. No wonder—they probably had not been told yet that the Death Watch’s pushback was beginning, far less that it was going to be this zealous.

Blaster shots rang out and Finn rolled without looking. On coming up he saw more of the syndicate’s minions coming out of a side street across from the burning building, blasters firing. They had to put up a convincing resistance, after all, and Finn doubted most of them knew of the collusion. He rose to a knee and fired back, taking out two of them before he took cover behind a statue.

An explosion shook the area, and Finn looked back around the statue to see his adversaries collapsed to the ground or running away.

“Firrus!” Finn recognized the voice before he recognized the name. Rey propel herself toward him on her own jetpack. 

“Raina.” He hovered in the air as she too came to a hovering stop before him.

“Are you all right? You went off so fast-“

They turned at the sound of a scream, and watched in horror as a man stepped onto a windowsill of the burning building five stories aboveground, flames and smoke pouring out below him.

“Help!” the man screamed. “The stairs are full of smoke, and there are children here!”

Finn pivoted toward him but Rey placed a hand on his arm. “Watch the ground. I’ve got this.”

He watched as she sped toward the building, wanting to help her, make sure she was safe. A blaster beam passing before his eyes reminded him he had other priorities. He fired back while dodging and weaving out of the way of enemy fire, picking the shooters off one by one.

The peacekeepers arrived while Finn finished up, and he turned to the sound of cheering. He grinned in relief to see Rey fly down from the window, a child in each arm, before she flew back up. Finn hovered closer to the ground to watch the area for threats while one of the peacekeepers’ hovercrafts spun around the building, spraying it with water, and another went to the fifth-floor window for the man who had screamed for help, with Rey helping him onto the transport. More peacekeepers kicked down the front door and ran in, shooting water from tanks strapped to their backs.

Seeing no more attackers, Finn flew up to join Rey where she hovered over the street. “Good work.”

“Good work, yourself.” 

He had no idea who had reached out first, he or Rey, but he found her gauntleted hand in his as they floated above the city spread out below them. What next? he wondered, and knew she was thinking the same. _What do we do now?_

* * *

“Good work, Firrus.” Finn almost went headfirst into his drink from the powerful clap on his back. The celebration was loud and raucous around him where he sat at a table, staring down at his cup. “I haven’t seen fighting like that in a long time.”

Finn tried to smile at the warrior taking a seat next to him. “Thanks.”

“Since Taira Zentos, is that right?” said another. “Your style reminds me of her, son.”

“Taira?” Finn felt a stirring in his heart. “Who’s she?”

“Was, rather. She was one of the Mandalorians who made her way as a bounty hunter in the Outer Rim worlds.”

“What happened, anyway? Didn’t she have a child at some point?”

“No one’s heard from her since the Republic strike at Nar Shaddaa and what was that? Twenty years ago?”

Finn had stopped listening. A roar filled his ears and images passed uncontrollably before his eyes, fragments from the dreams that had troubled him ever since he had infiltrated the Death Watch. Get inside, baby! Get inside, it’s okay! Blaster fire, a terrible light that seared the darkness, and a scream. His dark, safe space flooded with light while a familiar voice exclaimed, _There’s a child here!_

No, it had not been familiar to him at the time, but he knew it now.

He knew voice of his Master, and the face that peered at him, aghast at what had happened.

His attention snapped back to the crowded and noisy room at the sound of his name, or rather his false name. But what was true anymore? He watched the scene as though he floated on his jetpack somewhere above the ceiling watching himself.

“Firrus, are you all right?”

“Yes, I think… I need to get out. I mean, get rest.”

“It’s a night of celebration!”

Finn pleaded tiredness and left, his ears still ringing and his eyes clouded by visions he could not forget. Even as he stumbled down the corridor, however, a resolve grew inside him and settled in his stomach, heavy and hard.

* * *

“I don’t know what to do anymore.” Rey whispered to Finn in a hallway when they had a moment to themselves. “Vizsla has imprisoned the Duchess, and now Maul and his brother. I don’t know when the Republic will act-“

“If they ever do.” Finn looked past her. “I know what to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have to challenge Pre Vizsla for the leadership of the Death Watch."

“What? Finn, no.” Rey gripped his arm. “It’s against our orders, and he’s a powerful warrior with decades more experience than you do.”

“And I have the Force on my side.” He covered her gauntleted hand with his. “We both do.”

“You can’t use the Force or a lightsaber, not unless you want to compromise your cover!” 

“A vibroblade is all I’ll need. Let’s face facts, the Republic isn’t going to do anything, not in a neutral world. More people are going to get hurt if we do nothing, and it has to be soon because you know Maul and his brother won’t stay in prison for long.”

“Fin- Firrus!” Rey called after him, but he walked past her without looking back.

* * *

Finn walked past the guard and pushed open the door of what used to be the Duchess’s audience chamber. A few of the warriors turned to look at him, while most did not spare him a glance. He was just another one of them coming and going.

So far.

Finn took off his helmet and faced the dais at the front of the room where Vizsla stood. He unsheathed his vibroblade and raised it. The room grew quiet as more and more people turned around to watch, including Vizsla himself.

Footsteps that he knew well burst into the room behind him. Finn knew what Rey wanted, but this was the only thing he could think of. 

“Pre Vizsla.” He had to suppress a flinch at how loud his voice sounded in the wide space. “Accept my challenge for the leadership of the Death Watch, or be known as a coward forever.”

“Is this a joke?” Vizsla came down the steps of the dais, each footfall seeming to land on Finn’s pounding heart.

“The only joke here is your leadership.” The Force is with me, Finn told himself, making himself stand his ground and not give in. “You are no leader and no warrior; your only weapons are deception and treachery.”

“Oh, you will find I have many more weapons.” Vizsla came to a stop to loom over Finn. “Let’s say you are lucky enough to win, youngling. Who will follow you?”

“Trying to back out? Then you prove my words.”

Vizsla let out a bark of laughter. “Stay back,” he told the warriors. “This should be quick.”

It would have to be quick, Finn knew. If he could not unite the Death Watch against Maul before they took their next step, their hopes for opposing the Nightbrothers would vanish.

They both put on their helmets. Vizsla pulled out a metallic hilt and activated it, calling forth a blacker-than-black blade that seemed to suck in all the light around it. The Darksaber. Finn felt his own bones resonate to the weapon.

Right now it came for him with unbelievable speed, and Finn countered as he stepped back, one, two, three times, feeling each parry like a blow. Vizsla cast an arm out to throw out flying projectiles, blurring with speed. Finn ducked under them to charge low with his blade, only to the sight of the Darksaber strike from the ground toward his face.

Finn leaned back and activated his jetpack to break his forward momentum. He found himself in the air, the thrust too strong in his panic, and the next moment a tautness wrapped around his armored leg and pulled hard. The tiled floor of the audience chamber came up to meet him and he pushed with the Force, remembering just in time not to make it too obvious, just enough to cushion his fall so he would not die or be knocked out.

He rather wished he were dead anyway when he met the floor with a CRACK. A warning voice inside, whether from the Force or instinct, still kept him moving and he half crawled, half rolled away while his head rang and his entire body begged for mercy. The force of an exploding grenade sent him flying, but the cable wrapped around his ankle brought him back down to the ground.

“As I said.” Vizsla sauntered through the haze. “This is going to be quick.”

Vibroblade gone, dazed with head trauma, and his sight obscured with smoke, debris, and blood, Finn drew his blaster and fired at Vizsla. As expected the warlord deflected with the Darksaber and did not even slow down, but the distraction was all Finn needed. Still firing, he wound his leg around the cable and then pulled with all his remaining strength.

Vizsla stumbled. Finn jumped up to meet him, a bright metal blade springing from the wrist of his armor and aimed straight at Vizsla’s throat. Vizsla threw himself aside just in time, rolling across the floor, while Finn stabbed at him with the blade on his wrist, drawing sparks from the tiles on the floor.

Vizsla swung upward with the Darksaber and Finn dodged, knowing the saber’s energy beam would cut right through his own desperate last stand of a weapon. As the Darksaber passed an inch by his face Finn grabbed Vizsla’s wrist and pinned it to the floor, pressing Vizsla down with his own body. Stepping on Vizsla’s other arm to forestall any more tricks up the sleeve, he slashed his blade at his opponent’s helmet but only broke the tip off with a sharp ping. 

Vizsla thrashed under him, the arm with the Darksaber threatening to come loose of Finn’s grip, the other arm under Finn’s foot rippling and slippery as a sea snake. Finn knew the moment he was thrown off he was a dead man.

As he started losing grip on Viszla’s arm Finn thrust his blunted blade under the Mandalorian helmet, prying it loose with repeated slams.

With another terrific thrash Vizsla threw Finn’s hand off and his other arm wriggled out from below Finn’s foot. Finn tipped forward, and instead of trying to get away he threw himself at Vizsla, forcibly pulling the helmet off. 

In the half a heartbeat Vizsla needed to turn his grip on the Darksaber to bring it in toward Finn’s back, Finn rammed his own helmeted forehead into Vizsla’s bare face again and and again. While Vizsla went slack for a moment Finn regained his grip on the man’s wrist and twisted with all the strength left in his battered body like his life depended on it, because it did. He thought of Rey watching and knew he could not die before her eyes.

The saber clattered to the ground and Finn lunged for it, kicking Vizsla backward for good measure. The darksaber hilt felt warm in his hand, almost alive, the low hum of it as it activated more comforting than the harsh light of a lightsaber had ever been. He heard a gasp of relief from a corner of the room and knew it was Rey.

“Pre Vizsla.” He brought the blade to the warlord’s neck as Vizla stirred. “Give it up, you’ve lost.”

“Only the strong rule.” Vizsla closed his unfocused eyes, waiting for the final blow.

Finn hesitated, looking down at his adversary’s broken and bleeding face. He knew it was the sensible thing to do, and it was the Mandalorian way. Vizsla was too dangerous to live and too treacherous to trust.

So why did he hesitate? Did the Jedi code of compassion for all life still have him in his grip even after all he had remembered?

 _There’s a child in here!_ Finn gritted his teeth. The Jedi, perhaps his own Master, had killed his mother and stolen him. The Jedi cared nothing for the sanctity of life.

But he did.

“Take him to the cells and guard him well. I will decide what to do with him.”He knew he walked a tightrope now. He was young and barely one of their number, and now he claimed to be their leader. If he wanted to lead them and prevent a bloodshed on Mandalore, he could have to make it clear he expected to be obeyed.

“Are we really going to follow this stripling? Just moments ago he was nothing!” A warrior stepped forward, sounding like he was in disbelief, and Finn sympathized.

“Is it nothing to bring Pre Vizsla to his knees?” Bo-Katan, Vizsla’s lieutenant, crossed her arms. “Besides, he fights like a Mandalorian.”

 _Ugly and desperate?_ Finn wondered, and it was mostly the ringing in his head that kept him from blurting that out.

“Take him away,” he repeated, looking directly at two warriors who stood near the entrance.

After a pause that lasted moments but felt longer, they went to a wincing Pre Vizsla and dragged him to his feet. They had just started disarming him when an alarmed cry, choked off quickly, came from outside the audience chamber.

 _He’s here._ He met Rey’s eyes across the room and they darted as one toward the doors, his head and joints protesting the1 movement.

The doors opened and Maul stepped in, striped like a Hrosma tiger. Finn felt himself tense in instinctive terror, even aside from knowing who this man was and what he was capable of. 

Maul swept his golden eyes across the room once and they lit up with understanding. “Well, it appears the duel I envisioned is not happening. I thought to find you in better shape, Vizsla.”

“So you could kill me?” Vizsla spat a tooth out of his bloody mouth. “Upstarts happen to the best of us, in time.”

“And also to the worst.” Maul’s gaze fell on Finn and he fell into a crouch without thinking, poised to fight. “Tell me, new leader, when were you going to tell the others your secret?”

“What secret?” Bo-Katan stepped forward, blaster aimed at Maul.

“That he is a Force user. He is not alone, either.” Maul looked at Rey, and Finn pulled back on the urge to run and stand between them. “Surely this is not a coincidence. Do I look upon two Jedi? In the guise of Mandalorians?”

Finn gritted his teeth. Bo-Katan turned to him, her eyes suspicious. “Firrus?”

Finn let out a breath. The fear that he had felt ever since he had infiltrated the Death Watch left him, leaving him lighter. “It’s true.”

“Finn!”Rey spun to him.

“The Jedi Council sent us here to infiltrate the Death Watch and report your plans back to them.”At the outcry from the Mandalorians he turned to them, the Darksaber in his hand. “I wanted to stop the destruction of your own people, but the Council was doing nothing.”

He met their accusing, angry looks. “I could no longer follow my orders and stand back. This was the only way I could think of, to unite us and stop the loss of more lives.”

“You came to us under false pretenses?”Violence was thick in Bo-Katan’s voice. “You, an outsider, claim to be our leader?”

“No.” Finn looked down at the saber in his hand. “I do not come in the guise of a Mandalorian, I am one. I am the son of Taira Zentros, a bounty hunter. I was raised by the Jedi after she was killed.”

“But… Taira most likely died at the hands of Jedi. It was their strike on Nar Shadaa that…” the warrior who spoke trailed off, his eyes widening.

“I will not go back to the Jedi order. You can kill me or cast me out, but I will not return.” Finn dared not look at Rey, unable to face the look on her face. “Decide now. Will you stand with me against Maul who wants to turn you into something you are not, or will you strike me down and bow to him?”

Silence followed his words. Then Bo-Katan spoke. “That saber you hold was created by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian Jedi.”

“Yes, it belonged to my ancestor, and now a bounty hunter’s orphan with no blood and no standing holds it,” said Pre Vizsla.  
Bo-Katan did not even glance at Vizsla. “Blood does not a leader make, I think we know that by now.”

With deliberate footsteps she came to stand next to Finn. “I will stand with him, this Firrus- did you say Finn? Zentros?”

“I mean I don’t actually know what my mother called me, but I guess Finn would do?” Finn felt a headache coming on.

“ _Whatever_ his name is, he has the spirit of a warrior.”

More of the warriors shouted their acclaim and came to stand with them.

Rey raised her blaster at Maul.“It looks like you will have to face all of us.”

“As fun as that sounds, you would be more of an irritation than you are worth.” Maul withdrew from the doors. “Grant my brother and myself safe passage to our ship and we will leave. If we are attacked on the way the deal is off.”

Finn did not hesitate. “You have my word,”

Once Maul retreated down the hallway Finn walked over to Rey. “Have them both watched until they leave the system. Take the warriors with you. Actually, I’ll come with-”

“I have this.” She put her hands on his shoulders, and warmth spread from her touch even through their armor. “Get treated and rest.”

He watched her go for a moment before he turned to a smirking Bo-Katan.“And once everything is safe the Duchess is to be freed for negotiations with the Watch.”  
She gave him a long look. “Very well.”

“I’m not expecting it to be easy, Bo. I know the Duchess’s subjects and the Death Watch have serious differences, but we have to start somewhere. Mandalore can’t go on like this.”

She started walking away before she turned back. “Did you just call me ‘Bo?’”

He spread his hands. “I was hit in the head, cut me some slack.”

* * *

Rey stood with Finn on the shuttle platform, both knowing the time had come, both hesitating.

She gave him a long gaze before the words spilled out, irrepressible. “Finn, come with me. I can’t imagine going home without you.”

“Don’t go.” Pain deepened in his eyes. “We can make a home here, together.”

Tears sprang to her eyes. “I can’t.”

“I know. Your family…”

“I’ve already been away too long. And you? Are you truly leaving the Jedi Order?”

“I know I can’t go back like this. I’m afraid of what I might do.” Finn looked down. “If they choose to take that as a resignation I have no objections.”

“I’ll go back and find out what happened. To your mother, our mission.”

“Thank you, my friend.” He reached out very slowly, giving her every chance to pull away, and touched her face. “We’ll meet again. I believe that.”

She rushed forward to hug him around the neck before she drew his face down for a passionate kiss.

“Take care of yourself.” She backed away, looking at him as though to carve him in memory. “Please.”

She turned to the shuttle and Finn reached out a hand, before he closed the hand and put it to his chest. He watched her shuttle lift off and watched until it was a speck in the sky, and then was gone.

* * *

**Epilogue: Reunion**

**Bail Organa watched in horror from his vantage point at the shuttle platform before the Jedi Temple, as a Jedi youngling deflected blaster beams fired by soldiers with his training saber. Bail willed the boy to break free, to survive, but there were so many of these cowards attacking a child-**

**At that moment a blue lightsaber beam swung through the air, reflecting back a blaster beam the youngling had not seen and taking down the shooter.**

**“Quickly!” A young Jedi, her lightsaber gleaming, stood blocking the path between the soldiers and the youngling. The child started running, but more soldiers blocked his path.**

**“No!” The Jedi looked over her shoulder as she parried more blaster beams on her side.**

**Blaster fire sounded from above and the soldiers in the youngling’s path collapsed. Bail looked up and wondered if he was seeing things: Mandalorians? On Coruscant?**

**The armored figures landed and the guards around Bail’s transport pulled out their own weapons, only to have them shot out of their hands. Despite not knowing these intruders’ intentions, Bail found himself impressed at their marksmanship.**

**“Hands in the air,” said the Mandalorian at their head. “We have no intention of hurting anyone if we can help it.”**

**“Finn?” The young female Jedi turned to fix her gaze on the leader.**

**“Rey.” The Mandalorian warrior took off his helmet, revealing a boyish smile that was nothing like what Bail had expected.**

**The Jedi, Rey, ran to the Mandalorian Finn into a joyous embrace, and Bail once again had to question his own senses.**

**Finn held Rey at arm’s length. “Was there anyone else in the Temple you could find?”**

**Rey shook her head. “It was too late for the other younglings when I found them.”**

**The young man Finn’s face filled with cold fury, something closer to what Bail had first imagined he would look like. “Who did this?”**

**“Finn, we need to get away first.” Rey looked over at the child they had saved.**

**“If I may?” Bail cleared his throat to get their attention. “Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan. You are welcome to come with me to regroup and exchange information.”**

**Rey nodded. “He can be trusted.”**

**“From what I’ve heard of him, I agree.” Finn turned to the child. “Will you come with us?”**

**The boy nodded and he, Finn, and Rey approached past the disarmed guards. Finn ordered his warriors back to their ship to await orders.**

**Standing before the guards, Rey ran a finger through the air. “You did not see any of us here tonight.”**

**Bail’s new passengers boarded behind him to the sound of the guards repeating Rey’s phrase. Bail filed away her impressive strength in the Force for future reference.  
They sped away from the remains of the Jedi Temple into the Coruscant night, and Bail smiled to see Finn and Rey holding hands in the back seat despite the tense looks on their faces. On a night of catastrophes and uncertain futures they all needed all the comfort they could get.**


End file.
